Driving for Uber was never really something I ever planned to pursue in my life. I never really saw myself as a person who liked interacting with many people let alone drive them to where they want. Uber was a last ditch effort for me to make money as my current job was barely enough to make ends meet.
It was a rather foggy night this particular evening. I was waiting for the person who ordered an almost 2 hour long ride to show up, scrolling through my phone to keep myself occupied. I lifted my head up and huffed impatiently as I looked up at the street ahead of me to see if I could spot the client.
I was parked in front of an apartment complex, supposedly where the guy I was picking up was at. The complex seemed to have 7 floors in total. At least that's how many I figured it had judging on how I saw 5 horizontal windows visible from the outside go up in a row of 7.
Looking around more, I noticed a car parked off to the side, but it seemed to be parked in a rather weird way, as if someone was scrambling to stop the car and it veered off its tires. I raised an eyebrow at it, but shrugged it off, it was probably some guy that came back from a night of booze and fun.
My thought process was interrupted when I heard what sounded like shouting from the 1st floor of the complex. I looked up and noticed 2 shapes which looked to be a man and a woman's. The man approached the woman and that's when I saw her shape fall down and the light switch off.
I sat there, surprised. What was that? Perhaps an angry couple arguing? Maybe, after all, a lot of couples have arguments, but that seemed to turn violent. I didn't have much time to think about it as not long after, I spotted a man exit from the front doors of the complex. He began speedwalking towards me which made me sit up straight in my car seat. I took a look at my phone again to read the time. 7:23pm. This last ride would end my shift for the day, so I hoped they wouldn't take long to come down the stairs of the entire complex.
"Come on, one last drive and you can go home."
I commented to myself, trying to motivate myself to get through this ride so I could go home and relax, after all, my back ached from all the driving I did that day.
I noticed that he was walking towards my side of the car, so I rolled my window down and cleared my throat.
"Edward Fritz?" I asked.
"Hey yeah, are you my Uber?"
Edward asked me, speaking to me in a very rushed and panicked tone.
"If you're Edward Fritz then yes I am."
"Good good, I need you to drive me to the address I sent you as soon as possible, can you manage?"
His attitude caught me by surprise. The anxiety and worry in his voice was something I felt greatly. Has this guy never called for an uber before?
"Uh...yeah but the quickest I can take you there is 45 minutes if I go through all the shortcuts I know of." I replied, keeping a close eye on his facial expressions.
Edward practically pulled my car door wide open and hurriedly sat down, closing the car door and breathing very deeply.
"Dude, are you doing alright?"
"Please just drive me to my destination."
Edward gripped his pants tightly, his wide eyes staring at the apartment complex he just came out of.
I was completely shocked and confused, trying to piece together why he seemed so agitated. Looking at him further, I picked up on subtle signs that something was incredibly wrong. I could tell he was shaking badly from his demeanour. Apart from that, his skin was pale and even with the low light of the street lamps, I could see how much he was sweating.
Not wanting to make the situation worse, I decided to start my car and obey his command. I pulled out of my parking spot and began to drive him towards his location, side eyeing him to see if he was still panicking. My gut feeling was screaming at me to take him to the hospital or to just stop driving and kick him out, maybe even aid him the best way I could.
Having an agitated man right next to me made the drive much worse than it had to be. The pressure of having to make sure he would arrive in one piece and a bit calmer than our initial encounter weighed on me heavily.
At some point on the drive, I knew I would encounter a traffic light, and that's exactly what happened. I stopped the car, waiting for the light to turn green. I took that small window of time to take a glance at Edward.
I turned my head slightly, trying to not startle him. My eyes landed on his pale face, his eyes were still wide with panic, but something seemed off. Edward was staring down at his hands, his expression one I can only describe as contemplative. The fact that he was looking down prompted me to do the same.
His hands were no longer gripping his pants, no, they were gripping something else. Something small and shiny. I tried to look at it a bit closer, but a beep from a car horn startled me. I looked up and saw the light had turned green, which explained why a car was beeping at me furiously to drive.
I pressed my foot on the gas and started to drive again, but at a much slower speed than before. Whilst driving, I tried to piece together what he was possibly holding. Maybe it was a silver necklace? No that couldn't have been right. Perhaps a charm? Possibly, but I couldn't think of any charms that were shiny.
Then my mind went to another object and I begun to worry.
Was Edward possibly concealing...a knife?
A shiver ran down my spine and I gulped. I felt a sense of dread build inside me, a sense I could not calm down. I started getting anxious, which caused me to drive a lot slower, and Edward noticed.
"Hey man, can you drive faster? I really need to get to that address."
I heard him say, his tone changed from panicked to unnervingly calm.
I turned my head and looked towards him. He was staring straight at me. His eyes looking deeply into mine, looking into my soul. I gripped the steering wheel tightly with my hands which were starting to shake badly.
That's when I noticed his hands shift slightly, going from his thighs to his side pockets. I broke eye contact with Edward and stared at his pocket, seeing the shiny thing I saw earlier poke out of it.
I could hear my heart pumping fast in my ears, my eyes fully fixated on his pockets. That's when he waved his hand in front of my face.
"Are you doing ok man?"
His tone was still frighteningly calm.
"Um, c-can I ask what that thing is in your pocket?"
I pointed with my finger at his pocket, my fingers visibly trembling. At this point I had stopped driving all together and I sat smack dab in the middle of the road.
Edward looked down at his pocket, and I saw his expression change once more. This time, he had a look of amusement on his face, which made my anxiety that much worse.
"Oh, this?"
He said, reaching in his pocket.
I began to brace myself, going through all the different scenarios that could possibly happen. I checked to see if my car door was locked in the case that it was a knife and I had to flee and call 911.
To my surprise, Edward pulled out a small, diamond earring. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.
"An earring?"
I said out loud.
"Yeah, I didn't explain why I seemed so anxious. Sorry about that."
Edward scratched the back of his head.
"That apartment I was at? That was my mum's apartment. I remembered that my girlfriend had left one of her earrings there after she was invited over for dinner. She was distraught about losing it, the earrings was a gift from her grandmother, so I could see why. So I thought that after work, I could run over and pick it up."
Edward chuckled, his expression softened a bit.
"Problem is, I don't drive, but my girlfriend does. I thought about calling her but then I thought it would be kind of cute if I just showed up with her earring, you know, like a small surprise. That's why I looked so anxious, I just really wanted to get there before she left for her night shift, but I guess that's not gonna happen now."
The disappointment in his voice made me feel bad about my rash judgement. I sighed and started to reply.
"Hey, I'm sorry for asking. I kinda judged too quickly and thought you were holding a knife there. But if it makes the situation better, I know of a road from here that could take you where you want to go as fast as possible."
Edward looked surprised, and honestly, I couldn't blame him for it. After all, having a stranger tell you they thought you were going to hurt them is not a nice thing to hear.
"Oh...sorry if I gave off that feeling. I know it must be nerve racking for you, having strangers in your car and whatnot. I totally understand why something shiny could be mistaken for a knife."
He replied, taking it rather well. That made me feel like helping him the best way I could.
"Thanks for understanding. I know you didn't respond to the other half of my response but let me try to take you there before your girlfriend leaves."
I started my car again, internally glad that I didn't impede any cars behind me from driving and that it was just a misunderstanding.
Thankfully, the shortcut I took worked, and I got him there supposedly 20 minutes before she had to leave.
Instead of a 2 hour ride, I did in fact manage to shortened it to 45 minutes thanks to all the shortcuts I took. I pulled up infront of a homely looking house. It had a really cute gravel path up to a brown door which was decorated with an adorable panda welcome sticker.
"Alright, we're here."
I said to him, marking the ride as finished on my phone.
"Thanks, here's your 10 dollars."
Edward handed me a 10 dollar bill and started getting out of the car, looking night and day from when I first saw him. I huffed once more in relief and prepared myself to drive home when I noticed something flash from the passenger seat.
I turned to look and noticed that Edward had dropped something. I squinted my eyes to look closer and my heart dropped to my stomach. A small switch blade sat there, its point shining and flashing in my eyes and what seemed to be blood covered the handle and part of the blade. I quickly looked up to the house door again, but Edward had already gone inside.
Check your phone.
A terrible thought popped into my head and I went onto the uber app to see if he had put his home address down. That's when I gasped.
Edward lived in Ohio, but I had picked him up from New York.
But how was that possible...when he couldn't drive?
The car parked weirdly infront of the complex.
I covered my mouth with my hand in shock. The car, the shout, the shape of a woman falling, the light switching off, the earring, it all started to make sense.
I slammed my foot on the gas and sped off from that house, trying to push all the horrible thoughts coming to my mind aside. I don't know who's house that was, or what Edward wanted from the person that lived there, but I didn't care.
I was just glad I wasn't his next target.